Through it All
by sectumsempra12
Summary: Harry wants to start his life over, but a letter from the Ministry does it for him.He finds out he has a niece and a nephew, but will he decide to take care of them? And where does Hermione, Ginny, and Drco fit in to all of this?
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Through it All

**Author:** Sectumsempra12

**Rating: **Teen

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, and most of the plot is a challenge from another site.

_Through it All_

The front doors of number 12 Grimmauld Place creaked open. Dust swirled in the light streaming down from high windows. The old Order of the Phoenix headquarters was to be Harry Potter's new home. It was the old headquarters because Voldemort was dead and the war was over. It had been that way for nearly four months.

Proof of the previous inhabitants could be found here and there. Scraps of paper and owl feathers littered the floor. Even the troll leg umbrella stand was knocked over. Tonks had to have been in charge of last minute clean up because if Mrs. Weasley had been in charge, not a single speck of dust would have survived her wrath.

Harry moved into the kitchen and opened the windows. Sighing, he took a seat at the wooden table. Just being in his godfather's old house made those old sores return. Those old sores melted painfully together with the new ones that Ron's death had created.

Reaching into his pocket, Harry produced a blue piece of parchment. He filled it up with his messy writing and with a touch of his wand, made numerous copies of it. With a second light tap the copies folded themselves into paper airplanes and flew out the open windows. Fred and George could do wonders with their products. There was a lot to do tomorrow before the big party.

It was slow, grueling work, renovating even that small part of the house. Harry spent the entire day cleaning and repairing the kitchen and entrance hall. There was dusting, washing, scrubbing, painting, and repairing broken things. Plus the noise he was making would arouse Mrs. Black from behind the curtain.

At last he was done, with what people would see at least. At eight o'clock people began to arrive. Hermione was first. She hugged Harry tightly then stood by his side while he waited for the other guests to arrive.

Next came Fred, George, Bill, and Fluer. Fred and George wasted no time in shaking Harry's hand and running off in search of more doxy eggs for a new product. Bill also shook his hand while Fluer got a scorching look from Hermione for kissing Harry's cheeks.

Mrs. Weasley showed up next with Ginny, Tonks, and Kingsley Shacklebolt. Mrs. Weasley instantly began to fuss about how thin Harry was. She seemed to be getting over Ron's death. Or she was hiding her pain. It was more than likely the latter. It was commonly known that Molly Weasley's seven children were very dear to her heart.

Hermione smiled and Ginny, but Ginny's mouth only twitched in the corner. She and Harry had not been able to pick things up where they had left off. It had devastated poor Ginny, leaving her depressed.

Mad-Eye Moody was next. Harry began to wonder if anyone he had invited from Hogwarts would be coming. He had invited a lot of students and graduates.  
Luna Lovegood showed up not long after Mad-Eye. She apologized to Harry for being late. Apparently, she had felt the presence of a hiffilatumpus, whatever that was, and had to pursue it. This earned a loud snort from Hermione, who was still standing loyally beside Harry.

More people began to pour in. Oliver Wood came with his entire quidditch team. Katie Bell arrived with Angelina Johnson, Parvati Patil, and Padma Patil. Zacharias Smith came with Hannah Abbot and Ernie Macmillian. Cho Chang and a few other Ravenclaws were tailed by Cormac McLaggen, he was telling about the time he single handedly beat his friends at quidditch.

Hagrid, Professor McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick, and Slughorn even came. After Hagrids bone crushing hug, Slughorn waddled over to say, "Well, well, well, Harry. Decided to pull an ol' Slughorn and throw a party now did you?" Harry only smiled and rolled his eyes to Hermione as soon as Slughorn turned around.  
Even if Harry had only said a couple of sentences to the person, they were invited. Harry was starting his life over that night. He had lost so many people in his seventeen years of life, that he was constantly afraid that another person was going to die soon. He was tired of living like that, so he had gathered everyone there to tell them of his new beginning.

Finally the front door closed for the last time. Everyone began to talk and wait to see what would happen next. Harry walked, more like shoved, his way through the crowded entrance hall to the the kitchen doors. "Erm...Everyone! If you could all just step into the kitchen please..."

The kitchen had been magically modified to fit all the people Harry had expected to show up. One by one everyone began to file into the kitchen and take a seat at the similarly enlarged table.

An anticipating silence filled the room as everyone waited. Harry walked to the front of the table. "You know, many of us have lost so many people we loved because of that war," he stated. Harry casted a meaningful glance at Hermione and the Weasleys. "It still hurts me, four months later, to think about Ron. It still hurts to think about Dumbledore, even though it has been over one year since he died."

"What I'm trying to say is," there was a tap on the window behind Harry. "...is that we need to move on. I'm sure most of you have already began to, but I'm also sure that there are others like me that want to dwell in the past. And we can-" another bout of light tapping interrupted Harry again. Harry sighed and turned around. That speech had taken him two weeks to write, and then someone was going to actually interrupt him in the middle of it?

But it wasn't someone. It was an owl. A brown tawny owl was sitting on his window sill at eight forty-five. Puzzled, Harry allowed the owl to enter by opening the window. Taking a closer look when it flew by, Harry saw that the envelope was stamped with the official Ministry stamp. Everyone watched as Harry took the letter from the owl and ripped open the flap. His breath caught in his chest the moment Harry read the first line.

Dear Mr. Harry Potter,

It is my sad duty to inform you of your sister, Ariana Mancini, and her husband, Patrizio Mancini's death. They were found dead in their London flat. I realize that you are an only child; however, Ariana was not the daughter of James Potter. We have yet to find the father's name, though we have reasons to believe that he is also dead.

The death of your sister is not the only reason I am writing you. It is also my duty to inform you of your niece and nephew. Liliana is your three year old niece, and Piero is your six month old nephew.

Not only are you of age and financially well off, but you are also the only known living relative of Ariana Mancini. That means you will be given immediate custody over the two children. If you feel that you are not ready for children, let alone a six month old baby, please do not adopt these children. There is a foster family that is willing to keep them. I will send someone tomorrow with the two children. If you want the foster family to keep Liliana and Piero, simply write to me. I hope you have a good night.

Sincerely,

Lidia Blackwell,  
Head of the International Magic Office of Law


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not even the plot, for this is a challenge fic.

Chapter 2

Harry Potter quickly reread the letter three times before coming to the conclusion that he didn't have a sister, or a niece of nephew for that matter! With his breathing quick and heavy, Harry sat down in an empty chair. He couldn't take care of two children.

A friendly hand found its way onto Harry's shoulder. "Harry?" Hermione whispered. "Are you okay Harry?" she asked him, and when he looked up Harry saw that her face was lined with worry. Instant shame flooded his body. She had been there for him even through her own pain, but Harry couldn't remember saying thank you to Hermione one single time. 

"Here," murmured Harry as he handed his best friend the official letter. When Hermione's eyes finished reading and rereading the parchment she was able to breath, "Oh! You're an uncle!" Hermione bit her lip and squeezed Harry's shoulder before she continued. "If you decided to keep them, that is…."

Harry muttered something about it had to be a hoax before he stood up. His legs wobbled a little, and he was forced to grip the edge of the table for balance. Despite all he was telling himself about the letter, he knew that it was real. His entire life Harry had wished for someone. Someone that he shared a bond with through blood, not friendship. Now they were going to tell him that that someone was living as close as London?

Wearily, Harry's eyes wandered up to the curious faces that stared at him. "Um…. I'm going to have to call this short. Something important has come up, and I am begging you all to leave." The noise of people whispering about him and leaving was lost to Harry, but to his dismay there were still three people sitting down when he looked up.

Mad-Eye Moody's magical eye was focused on the paper still in Hermione's hand. After what seemed like and eternity had passed he grunted, "Quite a letter, Potter." The disfigured man stumped out of Harry's kitchen, closely followed by Ginny Weasley, who briefly looked at Harry over her shoulder as she walked. That only left Mrs. Weasley. 

"What happened, Harry dear?" Molly Weasley inquired. "Is someone dead? Are they hurt? Was it Arthur? I told him not to work this late again. If that snake could have snuck in, think of what else could! Oh, was it a lethifold Harry?" When Mrs. Weasley went into panic mode, it was extremely hard to bring her back.

"Well," Harry began, "Someone did die, but it wasn't Mr. Weasley." Molly Weasley's worry only lessened a very small bit. "It was my sister….."

Mrs. Weasley laughed and said, "Harry that's impossible!" She continued to laugh, but the mirth ended when she read the letter when Hermione handed it to her. "This has to be some kind of cruel joke. It can't possibly be real, could it?" When no one answered, Mrs. Weasley slowly seated herself beside Harry.

"Assuming the letter is real; you'll keep the children won't you?" Molly asked.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "I think I'll have to give them up, won't I? I can't care for to children. I'm only seventeen!" Hermione's anger was so sudden that Harry was afraid for a moment, but then his temper flared too.

"You can't just give two babies away, Harry! They are your bloodline."

"Who says I can't, Hermione?" Harry blared back. "My mum did it with Ariana. And she sure didn't mind getting herself killed and having me sent away!"

Hermione was prepared, however. "What if the Dursleys had given you up?"

"My life would have been a whole lot easier!" bellowed Harry. "I'd like to see you take care of two babies! Then again, I'm sure the biggest know-it-all Hogwarts has ever had would know all about it!" Realization about everything he had just said in the past five minutes came to Harry, and he regretted it all.

Hermione's eyes filled with tears, and she ran out of the kitchen sobbing. Mrs. Weasley made to follow her out, but stopped just at the door. "I'll come by tomorrow. Try to calm down and talk to Hermione."

Without bothering to straighten up, Harry stumbled though the dark and dusty house until he came to his own room. He felt so drained that he didn't even bother to undress as he crawled under his blankets.

That night Harry dreamed about Lily and the Marauders. All five of them were sitting under a tree that grew close to the lake back at Hogwarts. Lily's stomach looked swollen, and she looked like she was close to crying. James' face was contorted in a look of rage, and Peter was just looking confused. As for Sirius, it was harder for Harry to tell. He looked kind of angry and excited. Lupin-

Harry bolted straight up. "Lupin!" he exclaimed, realizing that all the information he could want was just a call away. He jumped out of bed and used his wand to open his trunk and lay all of its contents on his bed. After rummaging through different miscellaneous objects, Harry came to a red and gold silk cloth. Carefully unwrapping the handkerchief, Harry found the mirror that Sirius had given him all those years ago. 

"Lupin!" Harry called into it. "Lupin, where are you!" Just as he was about to give up A face formed in the square mirror and called out Harry's name.

"I'd quite forgotten you had this, you know," Remus Lupin said. "It's early, Harry. What's wrong?"

Harry hurriedly explained the night's events and asked Lupin what he knew about it. "Well, Harry…. That letter was legit. All that really happened."

"Who was the father" was on the tip of Harry's tongue, but before he could ask the doorbell rang and the angry Mrs. Black awoke.

"YOU FILTHY CHUNK OF BLOBBERWORM SKIN!" she raged. Harry ran into the hall and screamed out the silencing charm. Then he ran down to the door so he could thoroughly give whoever rang the bell a good piece of his mind.

"Wha- oh!" Harry said when opened the door. Tonks was standing there with a stroller and a little girl clutched to her hand.

"Hey, Harry. I went to work a little late, and when they saw me they handed me these to kids and told me to bring them to you," Tonks explained. Smiling she continued, "So you are and uncle now, no, you're a father. That reminds me-"

Holding up his hands to silence her, Harry shook his head. "Hold on! I'll be right back." With that, he dashed off up the stairs and picked up the mirror. Lupin was gone. Harry cursed under his breath and returned down to Tonks. "Sorry, you where saying?"

Tonks stepped into the house, pulling the stroller behind her. "This is Liliana and Piero, but I'm sure you know that already. Anyway, they are yours for the next week. The soonest the foster family can take them in is next Tuesday," Tonks finished up in a very business like voice. "Would you like me to keep you company for a while? I a few reports to write and send in, and I would love an excuse not to do them."

"No thanks. Mrs. Weasley should be coming in pretty soon." Tonks hugged him and said "Wotcher, Harry" before taking her leave. Pretty soon it was just Harry and the two kids.

"Er…. Hi. I'm your uncle," Harry tried. He saw that Piero was asleep, but Liliana refused to say anything. "Fine, what ever. Mrs. Weasley will be able take care of you when she gets here." Just then there was a soft, rapid series of knocks on the door. Harry figured it was either Mrs. Weasley or Tonks, who he saw had dropped a few quills on the ground.

But to Harry's surprise neither women were waiting for him on the other side of the rough wooden door. It was Hermione, and she was no happier than she was the night before.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer:Bits and pieces of the plot are mine, but sadly none of the characters you about to read about are.

Chapter 3  
A Day With Cho

Hermione was wearing a pitch black robe that Harry recognized instantly. The silver thread that stitched the auror crest shimmered magically, for it stopped anyone who had ill content for the ministry from wearing it. Hermione, to put it short, looked very professional.

"I-I didn't know you became an auror!" Harry exclaimed, hoping beyond hope that Hermione was a little less angry than she was the night before.

Hermione rolled her eyes and replied, "There's a lot you don't know about me. Like the fact that I've become an auror's apprentice, and not an actual auror for the time being. Or that I've been hurting inside just as much as you have since….Since it all happened. And a big thing you don't know about me is; I have to-"A look of horror slipped into Hermione's features at the thought of what she had almost let slip in her anger.

"What?" Harry asked quietly.

"I came by before I go to the Ministry to tell you Mrs. Weasley won't be able to come out here today, and to see the children before you cold-heartedly ship them off to some unknown family," Hermione stated, her eyes avoiding Harry's.

Stepping back from the door, Harry allowed Hermione to step into his house. With the remorse that he felt from the things he had said Harry worked enough courage to say, "I'm sorry, Hermione!" His voice was merely a whisper and at first Harry that his friend hadn't heard.

"We'll talk later, Harry. Right now I have a job to get to and a report of how these children are to give to Mrs. Weasley, but I can't do that because there's only child here."

"What?" Harry looked at the place where Liliana had been standing only a half-minute before. Frantically, his eyes wandered to all of the hiding places a girl of Liliana's age could be hiding. "Liliana!" he called out, but to no avail.

From somewhere on the second floor the two friends heard the sound of breaking glass and the thud of a heavy object hitting the hardwood floor. As Harry rushed up the stairs, leaving Hermione with Piero, all he could see in his mind's eye was his little niece sprawled out on the floor with blood pouring out of her head.

What he found instead was a brown headed little girl standing in the hall, pointing into one of the many extra rooms of the old house. Relief flooded Harry, but still he was worried at what he might find in the room. "Come on, then!" he said all too impatiently to Liliana.

The actual room was a sort of trophy room with a lot a glass display cabinets and a few shelves on the wall. The only thing that Liliana could do any real harm to had been inside an unlocked display case close to the ground, and as small children have a tendency to do, she found that one object.

The wooden base of a trophy for an unknown deed or service was on the floor, a few shards of the crystal that was once attached to it were jabbed into the polished material. The other broken pieces were scattered all over the floor, reflecting the morning light filtering in from the window. Tiny rainbows sprang up over everything in the room.

Several deep intakes of air calmed Harry a little, but he still felt anger at Liliana for running off like that. A sigh followed be a spell fixed the award and levitated it back up on a shelf that it didn't belong on. Without even looking at what the trophy was won for Harry pulled the door closed behind him as he walked out of the room.

"Why did you run off like that?" he asked the little girl, fighting to keep anger from extending its ugly fingers into his voice.

Liliana stared back; silence was her answer.

"Can't talk or something?"

Silence.

Harry turned around and clomped down the stairs, where he found Hermione playing with Piero. "He's so cute!" Hermione exclaimed, but the comment was clearly not directed at Harry. Hermione wasn't quite that over what Harry had said to her.

"Here's out little trouble maker!" Harry said, faking a jovial tone. "She was doing a little exploring upstairs, isn't that right Liliana?" He jumped the last two stairs and walked over to Piero. "At least he isn't giving me any trouble," Harry told himself quietly.

"Hey, there!" Hermione said to Liliana. She chose to ignore Harry completely and walked over to the girl beside him. "I'm Aunt Hermione!"

Harry would have spewed anything that had been in his mouth had there been any thing. "Aunt? Hermione,that would make you…"

Hermione impatiently finished, "Your sister, but I should say that you hardly deserve the title of being something even resembling a brother to me!" Harry's cheeks burned a very bright red.

"I need to go, Harry. I'll drop by after work," Hermione told him. "We'll talk about everything then." Hermione bent down and kissed Piero on the top of his head.

"Bye, Liliana!" Hermione waited for a reply, but hers was the same that Harry had gotten earlier. As she was heading out the door, Hermione said, "We'll talk about that too!"

An hour had already gone by since the arrival of Harry's niece and nephew and Harry was thoroughly tired of them. In just sixty minutes Liliana had knocked over three chairs in the kitchen, broken another trophy, ripped apart all the parchment she could find, and still hadn't spoken a single word. Piero, bless his little soul, had done nothing but whimper a little.

"Listen to me, please!" Harry pleaded with his three-year-old niece. "Stay still. When Hermione comes back I'll apologize and ask her to come with me to get you something to play with, but right now I just need you to be good." Liliana smiled as if she was going to comply, but Harry blinked once and when he opened his eyes she was gone again.

From behind him Harry heard a small whimper come from Piero, and that whimper was followed by a sniff, which was followed by a scream that turned into a full fledged wail. "What now?" Harry moaned exasperatedly. He slowly walked over to his baby nephew and gently picked him up from the bed he had been laying on. Careful to support the baby's head, Harry held him in his arms. Deep within Harry's heart a spark ignited, and he knew that this is what his father must have felt every time he had held Harry.

"Maybe this isn't so bad, Piero," Harry said with a sigh. "I might could get use to having you around." Piero stopped crying and smiled a warm toothless smile. "Let's go find your sister."

With a baby him his arms Harry maneuvered out of his bedroom and into the hallway. Liliana had to have gone downstairs because Harry had cast a barrier charm that wouldn't allow her to make it passed his bedroom. A similar spell protected the kitchen and front doors. "Liliana!" Harry bellowed down the stairs. "Please come here!" He didn't know why he was even yelling to her. For her entire stay there she had not uttered one word, nor had she responded at all to Harry's requests, yells, or demands.

In fact Liliana had obeyed Harry a small bit, for she was not getting into anything. Instead she was sitting beside the door to the kitchen with a bored expression on her face. At the sight of her uncle she smiled mischievously and tried to open the door to the kitchen. As soon as she came within hands reach of the door she was pushed backwards, though her feet never left the ground. It was more like magical ice skating with no ice.

"Glad to see you found something to entertain yourself with that won't hurt you," Harry breathed. He slumped down against the wall that Liliana had been sitting against, no doubt taking a break from running into his barrier, and looked down at the bundle in his arms. Piero was beginning to doze off; one of his little hands was gripping Harry's shirt.

"Are you hungry, Liliana? I guess you probably are." Liliana nodded her head, giving Harry the most response he had gotten from her all day. "Great then. I think we'll go somewhere to eat. It'll be kind of hard for me to cook and watch you two," Harry explained, but he knew that Liliana was no long listening; she had started running toward the kitchen door again.

Cho Chang's restaurant did not specialize in Oriental food, but it did have a sort of Chinese flare to it. The walls were painted a deep red, and pots filled with bamboo sat along the walls. Above the door to the kitchen was painted the animals of the Chinese zodiac.

Floo powder got Harry and his companions to the restaurant, and Cho got them to their seats.

"Who are the kids, Harry?" she asked her old friend.

"My niece and nephew," Harry told her, but at her confused look he added, "Please not now, Cho." He sighed and positioned the stroller that contained Piero so that it was sitting beside him.

"We can get him a highchair, Harry," Cho said with a grin. "Hey, Sandy? Could you get Harry a highchair?" Cho asked one of her waitresses. "But for the moment I'll take your order."

"I don't know what a baby drinks, and I have not a clue what Liliana wants because she refuses to talk to me, but I would like a butterbeer."

Cho smiled and took a small notepad out of her apron and tapped it with her wand. As she spoke the words appeared on the yellow paper, "One butterbeer and a….vanilla shake." Cho looked down at Pierro with a thoughtful expression as she flipped the notepad closed. "My aunt just had a baby and I've been babysitting it for a while. I should have a bottle left and some kind of potion that's supposed to be better for a baby than regular milk. Just hold on for a moment." 

The waitress named Sandy brought Harry the highchair and helped him put Piero in it. "I'll get your drinks," she told him.

It was not long before Cho was back and sitting at the table with Harry, feeding Piero. "When are you going to tell me how all this happened?" she asked him while Piero sucked on his bottle. She watched Liliana slurping her milkshake and Harry sipping his butterbeer. "I'm very curious."

"I'll tell you over breakfast," said Harry, who was getting hungrier by the second. 

"Oh, sorry. I forgot about your breakfast!" Cho removed the notepad from her apron once more and began taking their orders.

Harry picked the menu up from its little holder near the end of the table. "I want….The Bacon, Egg, and Toast Breakfast Plate. And I guess you'll just have to get Liliana whatever you think she'll eat."

"Alright, that's one B.E.T. Plate and a smiley face waffle for Liliana. How do you want your eggs?"

"Scrambled."

Cho rushed off to the kitchen, which allowed Harry to look around the café. There weren't many people in there that morning, but the people who were kept to themselves for the most part. It surprised Harry that there wasn't more people in there because Cho's café was located a mere block from Gringotts, and with Cho's Modern Café in dark green letters that flashed yellow every three seconds it was impossible to miss.

Two large windows flanked the carved wooden door, the name of the restaurant was also printed there, and through those windows the customers could watch shoppers rushing by. As Harry was looking through those windows he saw Draco Malfoy walking by.

The slimy weasel had paid a bribe to several ministry officials and claimed that he had been forced by his father, and then later the imperius curse, to accept the Dark Mark. Well, there was no way of proving otherwise. Professor McGonagall had stepped in and accused him for assisting in and plotting the murder of Albus Dumbledore. Sadly he said to have already been under the Lord Voldemort's control then. Since he had not actually killed Professor Dumbledore the ministry was forced to let him go.

Cho brought them their food, along with her own plate, and took her seat. Harry saw that Draco had stopped in front of the window as if he were waiting on someone.

"I'm starving!" exclaimed Cho suddenly, but she didn't tear into her food like Harry started doing. She picked up her own fork and knife and began to cut Liliana's waffle. The waffle was a work of art in itself. The whole face of the waffle was bathed in a thin layer of whip cream. Two chocolate covered cherries made the eyes of the face with a half banana smile.

"I should be doing that. It's not your responsibility, it's mine."

"Don't worry about it, Harry." With the Liliana placated and Piero playing around with the bottle Cho finally got a chance to say, "Now you have to explain to me how these two came about being with you. Harry? Harry?"

Harry and just barely seen a flash of fiery red hair and Draco Malfoy passing the windows. "If that was Ginny, I swear…." Harry muttered. He jumped to his feet and was halfway to the door when something hit the back of his head. A small half-eaten chocolate covered cherry bounced off of his head and fell to the tiled floor. He couldn't leave Piero and Liliana with Cho. Besides, it probably wasn't even Ginny, and if it was it wasn't Harry's business.

"Sorry, thought I saw something really strange," Harry told Cho. "So you want to know what happened. It all started with a letter……

The rest of that day, up until five o'clock, was spent in Cho's diner. Harry and Cho caught up on old times, and she showed him a few things about taking care of kids. When at last it was time for Harry to leave, he felt that he had done the right thing: going to Cho's restaurant.

Hermione was just coming out of the Ministry of Magic when Harry came running up to her. Liliana was attached to his hips and Piero was being pushed at an alarming speed in his stroller.

"I was trying to catch you before you got a chance to apparate," Harry grunted. Apparating was pretty much banned as a way of getting into the ministry after Harry's fifth year. "I have to tell you something! I saw Ginny with Draco in Diagon Alley." At about four thirty Harry saw Draco and his mysterious redhead returning from their earlier destination. The mystery woman had indeed been Ginny Weasley.


End file.
